Sep 23
The Belated Match Report + Boro Preview
Ok, so here’s the report that I got down to pen. Let me cut to it right away without much fuss.
Read on after the jump.
Manchester United went to Stamford Bridge with far greater desire than they could muster at Anfield the week before. All the pre-match prattle, Fergie’s mood etc, pointed towards a desire to get something from the game. One could say that, despite all the media hoo-haa about a defeat destroying our chances at the title, we would have taken a draw before the game started considering the way we have been playing, as well as the way Chelsea have been so far. I would have taken a draw if it was offered to me before the game.
But after having seen the game I wouldn’t say the same. While it was a fair result, (and we could have lost it had it not been for the profligacy of Anelka and Joe Cole) I had the feeling that, like against Liverpool, we somehow switched off our urge to attack and asked the opposition to score a goal.
First things first though. Eyebrows were raised at the team selection, but the only selection I disagreed with was the choice of Neville over Brown. I thought for a game like this, Brown, having sat out the Villarreal game, would have more energy than Neville. I still stand by that belief: Brown deserved to start on Sunday.
Fergie got the midfield spot on though. Everyone in midfield (bar Scholes — but Scholes would find time on the ball anyway) was tailor made for the high work rate of Chelsea’s midfield. It was the substitutions subsequently that I thought the boss got wrong. That was where Chelsea went on the offensive and managed to bypass our midfield.
The first part of the game was breathtaking stuff, and made me very happy. We zipped the ball around, and in a move that involved Berbatov, Evra and Rooney we scored our first goal to go 1-0 up.
The midfield was up for whatever challenge Chelsea had to throw at us until Fergie decided to bring on O’Shea — that move never made sense to me.
Regarding Tevez’s exclusion it was terribly unfair on the lad, but then again, I’m sure Fergie would have brought him on if EVDS hadn’t gone off injured.
I mentioned yesterday about some players standing out for me and I will talk a little more about them.
Park Ji-Sung: I love the Korean and I felt bad for him when a lot of the United support seemed to care less for him in his debut season. He brings a lot more into the team and can run for you all day. And night. He wasn’t even fully fit on Sunday, but he ran himself to the ground. Full marks, or whatever, to him. He was what we missed at Anfield.
Darren Fletcher: I’ll say it and say it out loud. This man is a revelation this season. He has always been good in the big games, but boy can he run. He makes more forward runs into the box than any midfielder has done for us so far. He could have become an instant star had he moved to Everton. But thank God he’s here. We need more Fletchers in our side.
Owen Hargreaves: Again, another semi-fit midfielder entrusted with the unenviable task of keeping a rampaging Chelsea full back in check. The moment Park and he were moved away from the wings, we got to see their full backs make runs in more advanced positions. Shielded Neville at times. Great job Owen. We need you at the peak of your powers. The question is, can you stay 100% fit for long?
And I will make a special mention to an assured Jonny Evans who looked unperturbed by the magnitude of the occasion. Drogba has a history of giving nightmares to young defenders. Perhaps the Ivorian wasn’t fully fit, or perhaps Anelka was pretty crap. But I wouldn’t take credit away from the Norn. Irishman.
Of course, I have to say, for the millionth time, that we would have been battered had it not been for Rio Ferdinand. He’s a giant in the dressing room by now, I’m sure. He hates losing, and he was right angry with our conceding of a goal. No one, and I repeat, no one at the moment is as peerless in defending than him in England at the moment. I just love the lad.
Regarding the substitutions, EVDS’s was unfortunate but bringing on O’Shea was something I couldn’t fathom. We had two outfield substitutions, and bringing Scholes off for Ronaldo and Park off for Tevez ought to have done it. If not, then Neville off for Brown would have been the right way to have gone about it.
And word on the refereeing: if I was the most conservative I would say three to four cards at the most. Ronaldo should have got a card for the theatrical dive and not for pointing a finger at the ref. I just couldn’t understand some of the stuff the referee was doing. I wouldn’t cry conspiracy or call him a prat, but I would call his officiating curious.
And finally, that boy Rooney. He started well but if the midfield, in the form of Scholes, fades then he was forced to forage for the ball in midfield and drop back. We saw him lose his head and saw the resulting free kick, but it would be unfair to pin the blame on him because we were asking for a goal with the countless set piece opportunities we already presented Chelsea with. But, barring the first half, he was decidedly off colour. I fear for him, but I want to really pass my judgement on him when I see him functioning with a midfield that can orchestrate play beyond twenty minutes. Or when he’s running at full pelt with a 100% Ronaldo in tow.
So what did we learn from the last 7-8 days? That the Anfield defeat was the more disappointing result. That the fitness levels are not yet up to the mark because of a spate of injuries that had afflicted the club already. And that we need someone who can play in midfield and not give the ball away cheaply, while also dictating play. And the sad thing is, Scholes can’t seem to be able to do it for the 90 minutes while Carrick is out injured.
However, I think I am confident with the boss’s claim that we’ll be “fine” by October. But a part of me asks the question “how?”.
Today we play Middlesbrough in a Carling Cup game. I can’t be too bothered to preview it, but I’d like to see the likes of Possebon getting a look in. My predictions for that: 2-0 to the Reds. Feel free to discuss about my late late match report — if there is anything left to discuss about it. But otherwise you could continue talking about Boro.
Come on you reds!!!
Related items from Red Rants:
- Man Utd 2-0 Chelsea (FT) : Tevez, Saha Score
- United 4-0 Wigan: The Goals Are Coming!
- Update on Red Rants
- Moscow, we’re going to Moscow!
- Reds vs Spurs: 26 Aug, 2007 4pm BST
Tags: Match Reports
Craig Mc (195)
RedDevilEddy (170)
Opti (135)
Moscow is my heaven (96)
Ian (95)
@Grognard: It depends on what is your definition of a football brain is, pal. In some important games, when we have scored first and are happy to defend (while everybody knows that in our case attack is the best form of defense, but I digress..), the opposition tends to dominate possession in the second half. The examples are numerous: recently the dippers, the rent boys, barca last season…We need a CM who can put a foot on the game by slowing down the pace of the game, and making a few passes and ensuring we keep possession, before we start building up our attacks.
) Anyway I would love to be proved wrong, but that would also mean that my favourite boy Rodrigo would not make it as a first team regular. Oh well..
Said like this, it seems fairly straightforward, yet out of our current crop of CMs, I know that only an on form Scholes can manage to do that efficiently. The others have other skill sets. However I just cannot picture Rooney doing this. And that mate, for me is the definition of a footballing brain, especially in a CM. Of course if you want the Roon, to be purely an AM a la early Scholes, he could get away with some of his rashness, but still an AM is an improved CM. If we want the gung-ho AM tthat I can picture the Roon to become, then we would need to tamper it with a LM or an RM in place of the more offensive LW or RW. (I know it sounds like football manager but I haven’t touched this thing for more than 6-7 years now, i don’t want to risk a relapse
On a side note, I cannot help but feeling that somehow Tevez does not belong… I mean, he plays brilliantly on his own, but his passing is awful and he’s yet to develop some true partnership in the attack. Don’t get me wrong I’m not slating him, he has some tremendous skills and I tend to think that those skills are hugely responsible for his good stats last year, but its nothing like a Beckham-RVN, or a Cole Yorke partnership… Any thoughts on that?
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@Red Diablo: Now that is the voice of potential darkness. Impressive…..most impressive.
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@Nico QB: That midfielder you are talking about who slows the pace of the game down already exists. His name is Scholes and I’m sorry but that’s not what we need. We need an offensive force that keeps the other team on the defense and never lets them rest and relax. Rightn now our CM’s give our opponents too much of the midfield to play with and don’t threaten their third of the pitch. Control of the midfield also means controlling sectors and we have no control of the opponents half of the pitch. The best defense is a good and relentless offense. And I agree about Tevez. He’s a great player but he has yet to find his perfect fit or role with united.
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@Grognard: Ha! I completely agree with your analysis of how we need to play!
But my point here was not how we should actually press on in attack. My view was that Rooney tends to go gung-ho on attack on his own, even when the players around him are not in the same frame of mind. Very often, when the opposition has got prolonged possession against us, I thought that we should keep some possession to allow for the set-up of the structure of our attack. Too often when Rooney gets the ball, he charges down the pitch or looks for the quick counter with one or two lieutenants. Now, counter is good when we’ve been defensively sound and controlling the match, not when the opposition have been running the game for the last 15 min with most of the possession, the team showing poor grit and determination to regain a foothold on the match (again I recall the second halves against the dippers and the rent boys). In these case, we do need someone to slow the game a bit just enough for us to reorganise and get ourselves together. Witness how boro was having most possession in the second half and after the Possebon injury, we started getting back into the game (albeit a bit fortuiously)
Now positioning Roo as AM would be perfect if and only if we boss the game. But recently in Europe and big games Fergie does seem to prefer resting on an early advantage and defend. Hence my comment about him needing to learn to tamper his go-go-go attitude.
In the end I also agree about your appreciation of Scholes – he’s not an offensive force nowadays but an anchor. But I still believe that keeping some pass around possession before starting real attack does not necessarily imply a complete slow down of our game. Yes, I’m slightly nostalgic of the Keane -Scholes era where we could play rather slowly and suddenly turn it on! But to each his own fondness!
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Anyone get to see the Brighton/Man Shitty penalty shoot out tonight.I would love to see the Man Shitty crestfallen faces
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Guess United didn’t play badly at all against Chelski, cos they thrashed Pompey in tonights Carling cup tie. Marvelous how they always have a hard time getting goals against us, without the help of referees free kicks and penalties that is.
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@Nico QB: The problem with us is that we play a 4-2-2-2 or 4-2-3-1 most of the time. Our two central midfielders play far back and thus do not get involved in the offensive push much. The offensive style is for us to bring it up the wings and have our fullbacks overlap also. They can do this because we have those two defensive midfielders watching their backs. Our wingers are so aggressive that they are not ones for keeping possession or slowing the game down. Our only chance of creating a style that keeps more possession and gets more productivity from a central midfielder is to play 4-1-2-1-2 diamond. This doesn’t work well against a physical, tall and aggressive team like Chelsea. Rooney’s aggressive nature is perfect for this and his energy can help the team at both ends. Again though, he needs to check his temper at the entrance and really grow up. If he did, I think he would be dynamic in that position. Still, I think for us to be a more possession oriented team, we would have to make wholesale changes because that’s just not the way we play. Statistically we only win the possession battle in our home games. Nani, Giggs, Park, Fletcher, Ronaldo, Anderson are not possession players. Carrick, Hargreaves, Possebon and Scholes are. Just a ball of confusion trying to get these players to work well with each other and to have proper possession.
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@Grognard: Pertinent analysis. Yet, I’m always looking at our “golden era”, yes that’s 99-2000 (I always thought we were stronger the year after the EC win..) For all their god-gifted skills, a team that included Giggs, Scholes and Beckham played the possession game. Clearly you’re right to mention we have more running and less skill than our magic midfield of 99, but then again I just can’t bear watching the team running after possession when some simple (ok perhaps not so simple) adaptation would change that. I guess the fact that I grew up watching this unreal midfield conditioned me to always want to go back to it, just like childhod nostalgia, if you get my drift
But I remain adamant that Rooney always look to run too early when getting possession and could do with temperance. Heck, even Ronaldo plays a few sideways passes now and then (before zeroing towards the box). Less so, Rooney…
Mmmh think i gotta catch some zzzs now… Interesting exchange we made here, it certainly opened my eyes to some of the tactics we play to nowadays… But i still prefer the old flat 4-4-2!
OK
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@cheeseburger o’shea: Setanta Sports, although I would rely on online streams.
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@Red Ranter: thanks mate.
online streams, does it have a good resolution?
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@Grognard: Glad to see you back, Grog. I made that same comment on Rooney after the Liverpool match and I don’t even think it got a response. Rooney IMO can be as close to Keano as we will ever get again.
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Link
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Last sunday was the first time United had NOT won a Premier League game in which Park Ji-Sung had started. They had won the previous 16 and were of course winning when he was taken off on Sunday
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@Wheezy: Thanks mate. I don’t see Rooney being another Keane but I can see a more energetic and slightly psychotic version of a young Scholes emerging if he was to play in the midfield. Christ, if Fergie was willing to make that conversion with Alan Smudger Smith, then Rooney should be a piece of cake. Smudger was far more crazy and out of control than Rooney.
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@Grognard: To clarify, I meant leadership wise and also slightley intimidating to the opposition, not a direct swap for Keano. A juiced up Rooney running around the middle of the pitch making strong challenges on the ball would be sure to disrupt even the most collected MF, although I admit all I can picture is him sliding in studs up on someone and us going a man down haha. I do belive that Rooney’s attempt to harness his temper has resulted in his less aggressive play, which has taken some of the swagger out of his game. 4 Years ago he was full of piss and vinager, lately he seems to be only full of piss(and I’m as big a Rooney fan as you will ever find). I can only hope that once he finds the back of the net the floodgates will open again.
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@Craig Mc: Cantona was also asked the same question. Who in his opinion was the greatest ever French player- Platini or Zidane….
King said – none of the two! It was me!!!
No wonder Ronaldo is wearing the same shirt
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at cheeseburger o’shea:
How about Fox Soccer Channel….the streams are IMO better than nothing.
Quality isn’t the greatest though.
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@Wheezy: Rooney could be the new Alan Smith haven’t we tried that b4?
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@Kal: thanks bro, i’ll have the streams than nothing!
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@jos: The truth is I have never been a fan of Platini or Zidane. Both may be legends but they did little to turn my crank. Platini especially was a boring and incredibly overrated snob of a footballer who I like to call a big loser because my Germans always ruined his World Cup. Zidane was very skillful on the ball but moody and slow. He would be world class one game and invisible the next. But he does give mean head butts. The King is right, he is the greatest of all time. Nobody who saw him play and witnessed his contribution to Man Utd can argue over his greatness. The reason he never played for France was strictly political and a clash of personalities. France won the 98 World Cup but they would have been bloody awesome had Cantona been their striker. Instead, they wasted his greatness and his contribution. Long live the King.
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@cheeseburger o’shea: Appiah’s overrated crap. I’d rather have John O’Shea.
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@cheeseburger o’shea: Appiah is shit.
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@Grognard: Zidane was class amte I saw him at OT when we Ronaldo scored a hatrick and he was the best player I have ever soon live. He is the only player I have ever seen do tricks (and that included slave Ronaldo) to actually get himself somewhere rather than to show boat.
Plus goals in World and EPL finals privrs what a player he was, moody and slow, well our king, and long live the king! has been discribed as that too!
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Playing Rooney in midfield would ruin him.
He can do a fantastic job as a support striker if he sticks to his job and supports the main striker rather than chasing the ball the whole time like a schoolkid.
Ultimately Ferguson has to get tough and tell him “this is your role in the team. If you do not fulfill it I will bench you and bring on Tevez”.
Rooney loves to play so I think if Ferguson made this threat he would shape up a bit. But if he gets caught up in the heat of the game and begins his berserker like quest to get the ball at all costs….then I just do not know what we will do with him.
By the way Tevez is a far dirtier player than Rooney hehehehehehehe
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@Stephen: No argument with Zidane. I just didn’t care for him personally. We all have our faves and foes. Perhaps if he had played for a club that I actually liked as opposed to clubs like Juve and Real that I despised, my feelings would have been different.
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